The Grand Difference

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Morning all!

Yesterday was my very first day of work, consisting of an induction to my new workplace - Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, otherwise known at the Grand or the Grand Flo. I was not too impressed at having to get up at 6am, especially as I had gone out to PI (Pleasure Island, Disney's clubbing complex) the night before to 'bond' with other people on the program, which proved harder than expected. But more on that later!

The morning consisted mostly of us doing a walking tour of the Grand Flo property, most of which was completed with my mouth hanging wide open at some of the sights and statistics thrown at us. For example: the most expensive room costs nearly $3000/night. The hotel has a big yacht that you can hire by the hour. The range of personalised services offered is mind-boggling. You can order cigarettes via room service. Little girls and their mums can have afternoon tea with Princess Aurora and Rose Petal (which I REALLY REALLY want to go to...immature, me?!) and there's a pirate cruise for the boys too. All of it is just sumptuous and classy and I felt extremely out-poshed!

We had 3 hours of class in the afternoon, which I thought would be extremely dull but was actually quite a lot of fun. Our training facilitators, Das & Jason, were really funny and kept it interesting. The coolest part of the presentation, I thought, was a video from the General Manager saying that we had been selected to work at the Grand because we were the best of the best and had something a little special...true or not, it certainly made me feel a bit special and very excited about working there!!

My training starts with 4 days at Disney University next Monday - someone I lived with last year at Vista Way is leading my training which will be extremely weird!! Then I have two days off - to start my classes at University of Central Florida - before I go into 7 days on-the-job training behind the Front Desk at the Grand Flo. My training pack is enormous - how I'll ever remember it all I don't know, but my ability to absorb large amounts of information was definitely improved by life as a Vacation Planner last summer, so hopefully I'll do OK.

Outside of work I haven't actually done a great deal so far, as I've been so so tired!! I have made a couple of good mates - Joey & Nikila - and met some other girls, but the entire living situation this year is a very far cry from the chaos that I experienced last summer. Most Vista inhabitants have already been here several months, have made their friendship groups, and that seems to be that. In addition, a lot of the Brits who have turned up on the program have formed cliques and are refusing to talk to anyone they didn't meet on the plane over - surprising and not a little pathetic! It is a LOT quieter too, but in a way this may be a good thing - last summer, amazing though it was, probably took 5 years off my life!! Still, we have only been here 6 days...there are still plenty of opportunities ahead!!

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Photos

My Key to the Grand Floridian
The Grand Flo was the last Disney resort to switch from metal keys to electronic ones. As our welcome present we were given one of the original cut keys to the rooms.

My Grand Pin
My Grand Floridian Cast Member pin that I won by showing off a bit and winning a Grand Flo knowledge quiz with my team!